A Silent Dance
by winterwood11
Summary: "Nargles do that you know - they mess up your thoughts. They're especially mischievous near mistletoes..." Luna's voice trailed off as she looked back at the fireplace with the mistletoe hung on top. "Right," Harry answered as he fought the urge to laugh. Nevertheless, a smile appeared on his face.


This was written for the 2012 Hogwarts Football challenge, and the Chinese Moon festival bonus round. I hope you like this :)

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Harry watched the girl as she stared into the fireplace intently, as if she was waiting for something or someone to step forth from within the fire and greet her. Her head was tilted to one side, and she hummed a cheerful little tune. She was definitely... interesting.

The thought of Luna Lovegood intrigued Harry. She had always been in his mind, to tell the truth. Luna, with her naturally wavy blond hair, already attracted enough attention as she was. But her striking, slightly eccentric appearance complete with radish earrings and a dreamy smile, caused one's impression of her to be even more memorable.

If one went a step further and talked to her, as Harry had done, he would realise that talking to Luna was an adventure of its own. In a matter of minutes, she would be passionately discussing the many magical creatures that her father had told her about. Nargles, for instance, and chimeras. Harry had never been able to tell apart truths and falsehoods whenever she talked to him. But he didn't mind - after all, how many people actually understood him?

Harry admitted that perhaps, a slight part of him was quite interested in her, in the romantic sense. But did he want to go that far? After all, the impending war was escalating at a very fast pace. What if she got hurt just from being related to him? Did she even like him? Besides, his other love interests had not gone over very well...

What happened with Cho had been quite an unhappy turn of events. Everything had been going on so well at first. But after that, things had started to go awry.

Harry had always wondered if it had been something that he did wrongly. Hermione had told him about Cho's conflicting emotions; should he have been more understanding? Harry understood how indecision felt. After all, he went through it all the time. But the way Cho handled things were not his style - all the carefully thought out words with hidden objectives... How was Harry supposed to know that it had been a test of his love for her? The way women like her worked was hard to understand. It would have been much easier if she had asked him outright, even if that wasn't the kind of question girls asked, as Hermione had stated adamantly.

Harry had often thought about rekindling the fire with Cho, but after awhile, they had started to drift apart. Perhaps though, that would be the best. They hadn't really suited each other, had they? The relationship had been quite awkward, to tell the truth. At any rate, Harry was dangerous to be with, and he had already caused her so much pain. How could he put her through more tough choices?

After that, an image of Ginny appeared in his mind. She was his big headache. He believed that he was indeed quite attracted to the redhead. But she was with Dean, remember? Harry reminded himself. She was Ron's younger sister - she was an out of bounds area! Harry would never risk his friendship with Ron. Things might become awkward between the Weasley family if he started to date Ginny; Harry still remembered the great lecture Ron had given Ginny when he had caught her kissing Dean. To tell the truth, he hadn't found anything remotely wrong with it - except the strange leaping feeling in his stomach that had made him feel like ripping Ginny out from Dean's grasp.

Ginny was practical, and definitely straightforward, unlike Cho. She also had a fiery spark in her, which was certainly intriguing. But she seemed to be as experienced as Cho in the dating department, which made Harry feel slightly uncomfortable. What if he disappointed her? But no, he should not think about that now. That would be if he would ever get a chance to date her - she was with Dean - Harry repeated to himself in a mantra. Harry would never spoil a relationship.

Luna, on the other hand, always had her head in the clouds. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He found Luna a wonderful companion in escaping the harshness of reality. He could just let his guard down and tell her anything - he knew that she would never judge him.

Additionally, Luna had always valued the truth - she had been one of the first few people who had out rightly proclaimed that they believed him when he said that Voldemort was back the previous year. No matter what Hermione said about him being able to do better; Harry still felt a rush of gratitude and warmth toward Luna whenever he remembered the incident.

"Have the nargles got to you?" Luna's lilting voice interrupted his train of thoughts, as he looked up from the fire only to find Luna looking at him.

"Pardon?" Harry asked, not having caught what she had said before.

"Nargles do that you know - they mess up your thoughts. They're especially mischievous near mistletoes..." Luna's voice trailed off as she looked back at the fireplace with the mistletoe hung on top.

"Right," Harry answered as he fought the urge to laugh. Nevertheless, a smile appeared on his face.

"You should smile more often, Harry. You look much better," Luna suddenly said, to Harry's surprise.

"Thank you," Harry replied quite awkwardly, for lack of anything else better to say. He could not help thinking that Luna was also straightforward in her thoughts and actions - she never beat around the bush. Her truthfulness went to the point of being blunt, even.

"You know, I think the two of us are really quite alike," Luna paused for a moment. " After all, we're both commonly misunderstood by everyone else..."

Harry nodded slowly in agreement as he turned to face the girl. What she said was true - they had both been labelled as crazy loonies before. Him for claiming that Voldemort was back, though everyone knew that now, and Luna for being well... Luna.

As Harry watched the blonde hum a light tune, he realised with a jolt that he had been right in recognising his feelings - he did like her. But times were so complicated; he could not just act according to his every whim and fancy. What if Voldemort captured her in the future? No, he would never be able to live with the guilt. Sirius' death... Harry could not help the tears that sprang into his eyes for a moment. No, he had to be more careful. Furthermore, did Luna even like him?

"You're thinking too much," Her voice broke him out of his reverie.

Harry knew that what she said was true. But he had to - for the safety of everyone. He loved the way she was able to understand him so well, without him having to utter a single word. He merely smiled weakly at Luna in response to her statement, and added, "I guess."

The sound of crickets could be heard in the room as Luna gazed deeply into Harry's eyes, making him feel slightly... the feeling was indescribable. It wasn't uncomfortable; it didn't feel wrong. On the contrary, Harry felt quite comforted. It was as if her eyes were telling him to be braver. Yes, he needed to be brave like a true Gryffindor, in these difficult times.

"Shall we dance?" Luna suggested suddenly, as her eyes lit up.

"D-dance now?" Harry looked up in surprise at Luna.

She smiled as she countered, "why not?"

That was true. But Harry had never been much of a dancer, and he said so to Luna. But then, perhaps he could afford to relax a little, as Luna was encouraging him to. Harry took a deep breath and smiled, lifting his right hand toward the girl.

"May I have this dance?" He bowed forward and offered his hand.

Luna beamed as she replied, "of course."

There was no music, no decorations and no words to be said. The two danced in the tiny little room, in the total silence and peace. She was lithe and graceful; he was a little less than clumsy. Yet, they moved in perfect synchronization, dipping and moving in harmony.

Harry had no idea how to describe the dance, but it had felt... magical. Harry had never been one for dancing, but now he understood why some loved it so - with the correct partner. Her eyes had been trained only on him, as he's were. It had felt right. But he had felt the same with another person – Ginny.

He was in a dilemma. He believed he was attracted to both Ginny and Luna - they were so similar, yet so different. It was almost selfish to say that he wanted both of them. Harry would need time to decide. But then and again, he had all the time in the world right now - he would need it.

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I have to admit that I'm not much of a fan of Harry/Luna, so I'd like it if you tell me what you feel about this :)


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